No Bond For CA Man Steven Banister In Murder Of Sex Offender

1-10-2010 California:

A judge Monday denied bail for a self-avowed white supremacist accused of using California's Megan's Law registry to track down and kill a convicted sex offender at his North Palm Springs home last summer.

Steven Banister, 28, of Desert Hot Springs is charged with first-degree murder in the Aug. 10 death of Edward Vaughn Keeley, whose body was found in his back yard in the 64-000 block of 16th Avenue.

Banister also faces two special circumstance allegations of committing a murder during a robbery and a burglary, which would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors will decide later in the case whether to seek capital punishment for Banister.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Arjuna T. Saraydarian denied bail, citing the special circumstance allegations, and ordered Banister to return to court Feb. 18 for a felony settlement conference.

Travis Martin Cody, 27, is also charged in Keeley's death. A Feb. 10 arraignment is set for Cody, who is in state prison on an unrelated offense and is expected to be brought to Riverside County in the next few weeks, according to district attorney's spokesman Michael Jeandron.

Banister was released from prison less than a month before Keeley's death, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant.

Keeley's address was listed as the home of a convicted sex offender on a publicly accessible database created as a result of Megan's Law.

Banister reportedly bragged in prison that he planned on assaulting homosexuals, pedophiles and rapists. He is accused of using Megan's Law to target pedophiles and sex offenders for his burglaries, said sheriff's Investigator Josh Button, who prepared the declaration.

Banister told his girlfriend that he had gotten into a fight with an old man, but did not know if the victim was dead or not, according to Button.

After Keeley's death, Banister went to Tennessee, where he was arrested in December.

Cody reputedly told his mother and girlfriend in recorded jail conversations that he was at Keeley's home during the murder, Button wrote. ..Source..

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Suspect pleads not guilty in death of North Palm Springs sex offender

A reputed drug dealer accused, along with another man, in the death of a convicted sex offender in North Palm Springs pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge.

Travis Martin Cody, 27, faces one count of first-degree murder and two special circumstance allegations -- committing a murder during a robbery and a burglary -- in the Aug. 10 death of Edward Vaughn Keeley, whose body was found in his back yard in the 64000 block of 16th Avenue.

Cody was in state prison on an unrelated offense and was transported on Feb. 5 to the Indio Jail for prosecution.

Also accused in Keeley's death is self-avowed white supremacist Steven Banister, 28, who is accused of using California's Megan's Law registry to track down Keeley.

Banister also faces the same special circumstance allegations, which make both men eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors will decide later in the case whether to seek capital punishment for the defendants.

Both men are due in court on Feb. 18 for a felony settlement conference.

Banister was released from prison less than a month before Keeley's death, according to a declaration filed in support of an arrest warrant.

Keeley's address was listed as the home of a convicted sex offender on a publicly accessible database created as a result of Megan's Law, said sheriff's Investigator Josh Button, who prepared the declaration.

Banister reportedly bragged in prison that he planned on assaulting homosexuals, rapists and pedophiles, according to Button. He is accused of using
Megan's Law to target pedophiles and sex offenders for his burglaries.

Banister told his girlfriend that he had gotten into a fight with an old man, but did not know if the victim was dead or not, according to Button.

After Keeley's death, Banister went to Tennessee, where he was arrested in December.

Cody, who is being held without bail, told his mother and girlfriend in recorded jail conversations that he was at Keeley's home during the murder, Button wrote. ..Source..

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Trial date set in murder case

1-7-2012 California:

A Jan. 20 trial date was set Friday at the Larson Justice Center in Indio for two men, one of them a white supremacist, accused in the killing of a sex offender in North Palm Springs.

Travis Martin Cody, 29, and Steven Arthur Banister, 30, could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstance allegations of killing during a burglary and robbery in the Aug. 10, 2009, death of 75-year-old Edward Vaughn Keeley. ..Source..